Health Coaches

by Editor
March 25, 2013 at 6:32 am

https://www.smartertimes.com/838/health-coaches

The Times Business section features a long article about a health insurance company that has opened a health clinic staffed by "two full-time doctors and eight 'health coaches,' who serve as liaisons between patient and doctor." The insurance company says this approach "will save money."

If this were a publicly traded for-profit company doing this, you might expect some highly skeptical treatment from the Times. What's the training of these "health coaches"? Has there been any research on quality of care or outcomes that compares patients who communicate directly with doctors versus those who deal with "health coaches"?

Yet this clinic is run by The Freelancers Union, a darling of foundation funders and the press alike, so instead of hostile or even skeptical press coverage, the article is pretty much a valentine.

Imagine if the New York Times Company tried to get 80% of the care now delivered to its employees by doctors to be delivered by "health coaches" with far less professional training. The employees would probably be livid.

I'm not saying there's no room in the health-care delivery system for nurses or other non-M.D. professionals. Some patients may prefer such care if it comes with a lower price tag attached, or even if it comes at the same price tag but with less arrogance that you can sometimes get from a medical doctor. This particular Times article is an overview of The Freelancers Union, not an in-depth look at the use of "health coaches" to substitute for medical doctors. But even with all those caveats, that passage of the article could use some more skepticism.